FF&S-1 (not "Upgraded") is IMHO the better one to have: if you're not worried about using brilliant lances (which was a decent, but not stellar system) then about 1/2 of your bookkeeping goes away. if you *are* using brilliant lances, then grab the "realistic sensor rules" and be aware that lighting a HEPLAR drive within several AU of anyone with passive sensors is a big "you are here" sign.
I'm extremely unimpressed with FF&S-2. You'd think that they would at least hire a proofreader. To understand the magnitude of the problems, I direct your attention to pages 86, 87 and 88. </font>
- Table 11: Maintenance Point Divisors.</font>
- Table 18: Maintenance Point Divisors.</font>
- Table 23: Maintenance Point Divisors.</font>
- Table 28: Maintenance Point Divisors.</font>
- Table 34: Maintenance Point Divisors.</font>
come on people, I can *see* two per page and these are all EXACTLY THE SAME TABLE.
FF&S-2 strips out most of the stuff useful to a non-gearhead: explanations of the physics behind the technology.
FF&S-2 has galley tonnages, but they didn't actually make it into any of the tables, so you need to labouriously flip back and forth between the tables and the text to get all the pieces, and FF&S-2 stripped out all of the "Alternate" tech, so no stargates or other FTL options for you.
My biggest beef with T4 in the starship section is the range bands: FF&S-1 (and Brilliant lances) made the difference of a few hexes in range quite critical: T4 has "you're standing on their toes" "really damn close" "medium range" and "they're out there somewhere". All of these take the same amount of time to cross in combat
I guess I just expect "improvements" to a system when I shell out my hard-earned cash for an "upgrade" : most of the content of FF&S-2 is *exactly* the same as FF&S-1, and the areas that appear to have changed seem to have changed for the worse. (rant mode off)
Scott Martin
